The Necks

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It's rare that the Necks perform in Melbourne more than once a
year, and even rarer that they play for more than 1000 people.
(Last Friday's capacity crowd of 1200 at the Town Hall was the
largest the band has faced.)

But it wasn't just the size of the venue or the audience that
was magnified in this unique concert. With the aid of the 10,000
pipes of the Town Hall's Grand Organ, they turned the auditorium
into a majestic, vibrating cathedral of sound.

Chris Abrahams typically uses the piano as a vehicle for
exploring tone and timbre, repetition and resonance - often to
dramatic and unearthly effect. Here, on the Grand Organ, everything
was heightened. Miraculously, Lloyd Swanton (on bass) and Tony Buck
(drums) were never overwhelmed by the organ. Swanton's vividly
expressive bass was as likely to lead the dynamics of the trio as
to echo its harmonic contours, while Buck's astonishingly deft
cymbal work could muster as much percussive power as the visceral
thrust of his kick drum.

Billed as a one-off experiment, this was clearly a milestone in
the Necks' impressive career. Let's hope it becomes an annual
event.